The Marion County public school teachers union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the School District.

By Joe CallahanStaff writer

The Marion County public school teachers union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the school district, accusing the administration of using "full-time" substitutes to avoid paying benefits.The complaint, filed with the Public Employees Relations Commission, maintains the district is using these "full-time" substitutes despite warnings in July and September from the union, called the Marion Education Association."More than 60 classrooms in Marion County continue to be manned by substitute teachers — a move the district touts as ‘cost saving,' " union President Chris Altobello wrote this week in a letter to union representatives.Retired Superintendent of Schools Jim Yancey implemented the plan several years ago. A full-time substitute has a bachelor's degree and earns $100 per day, but gets no benefits.To fill the substitute positions, principals try to find former teachers with education certifications. If possible, principals attempt to get substitutes who also are designated as "highly qualified" — a requirement to teach core classes such as English and math.In some cases, a teacher with a bachelor's degree and no certification has been hired if all other options have been exhausted.Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn, who was elected to the county's top K-12 job in November, stands behind the practice.Tomyn said "hiring fully certified substitute teachers to fill vacant or abandoned teaching positions" has been a tactic used for several years to combat state budget cuts of about $50 million.The savings enabled "our school system to avoid teacher layoffs yet still provide a high quality education for our students," Tomyn noted.The union maintains the district should not award jobs covered in the contract to non-bargaining unit personnel.Substitutes are being used to fill permanent vacancies created by termination or resignation, Altobello noted. The district also has used full-time substitutes when a teacher takes an extended leave of absence."The district chose to hire substitutes rather than regular classroom teachers, or replacement teachers," as required under the annual contract, which was hammered out during lengthy negotiations between the union and district."The School Board started the school year (2012-13) with at least 38 employees in positions required to be staffed by ‘highly qualified' teachers," Altobello said.He noted that the substitutes did not meet the highly qualified requirement needed in core classes such as English, math and science."This is a particularly dangerous practice since we are in an era when teachers, schools and districts are held accountable for student test scores," he continued.Under the state's new performance-based salary plan, which is geared heavily toward student achievement, half of Marion's teachers will be paid based only on school performance, not student gains. That's because they teach subjects that have no FCAT or end-of-year exam test tied to curriculum."Some of our most experienced and effective teachers, deans, guidance counselors and media specialists could have their pay frozen or their tenure forfeited based on the performance of others — an untenable situation," Altobello noted.The union wants the district to begin awarding regular contracts and to re-post job vacancies in accordance with the district's existing contract.Union Executive Director Craig Ham said the district has regularly employed one substitute at every school as part of the staffing plan. These substitutes, who are not required to have a bachelor's degree and get paid $70 per day, are often highly trained paraprofessionals, or teacher aides.Ham said the union agreed to allow these roving substitutes, since they give principals some flexibility covering for teachers who are running late, leaving early or miss part of a day for outside appointments."Occasionally, they (substitutes) may sub for the whole day, but that contract also places limits" on how many days the sub can fill in for the same teacher, Ham noted."There is no contractual provision for ‘full-time substitutes,' " he said.The contract clearly states teachers under contract will be replaced with high-quality teachers, who are entitled to medical benefits."There is no purpose in having a contract if (the district) can avoid the contract by calling teachers ‘substitutes,' " Ham noted. "We represent teachers, and if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck — well, you know!"Ham said the union has supported a district move to temporarily use substitutes to start the school year through the 10-day enrollment count, which the district uses to realign classes to meet class size caps.That allows the district time to determine how many teachers are needed to avoid layoffs if student head counts fall below projection.According to the Public Employees Relations Commission website, the commission typically assigns a staff agent to review complaints like the union's in hopes of negotiating a resolution.If that fails, the complaint is referred to the commission's director of unfair practices to determine further options, such as arbitration, dismissal or formal hearing.Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter at JoeOcalaNews.